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The aggressive cutting meant we ran a budget surplus for June. This has to happen or everything gets cut. We're pretty much at the end of the road. The Democra

The aggressive cutting meant we ran a budget surplus for June. This has to happen or everything gets cut. We're pretty much at the end of the road. The Democrats had control of the white house and legislature at the beginning of Biden's presidency and could have chosen alternatives to cut but did not. As I've said so often: if you don't like what Trump is doing you need to campaign for viable alternatives.

softwaredoug 1y ago
The viable alternative is pretty obvious. Don’t renew the tax cuts and cut entitlements and defense. That’s what you have to do to get a balanced budget. You don’t get a balanced budget trimming random measly costs that might look nice but are infinitesimal parts of the budget. But we tend to cut taxes, not substantive spending. Which is going to saddle my kids with a mess.
- msgodel 1y ago
  What do you think the tariffs are? We've just about maxed out domestic tax. Already we're probably past the peak of the laffer curve.
  - Tadpole9181 1y ago
    The BBB contained over 4.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts and will add around 3 trillion to the US debt. It is one of the largest transfers of wealth to the corporate elite in the history of America, while removing the healthcare of tens of millions and putting half a million jobs at risk. Tariffs will not make up for this because tariffs are, beyond specific circumstances, a failed policy that harms your own economy and disproportionately targets your lower class. It threatens US exports, makes many US businesses non-viable (thus losing jobs), slows down economy by increasing the prices of even domestic goods. Combine that with a looming recession and Trump's insistence to take over the fed fiscal policy and enforce a political bond policy... Crashing your economy does not help reconcile debts.
  - ceejayoz 1y ago
    > We've just about maxed out domestic tax. We really haven't. The effective tax rate on the wealthiest Americans has dropped from nearly 60% to about 20% since the 1960s. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/08/first-time-history-us-billionaires-paid-lower-tax-rate-than-working-class-last-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/08/first-tim... > Already we're probably past the peak of the laffer curve. The Laffer curve is a wildly simplistic concept that's widely disputed, and every practical test of it (example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment) has demonstrated that it fails. It's the right's equivalent of "let's try Communism again!"
  - insane_dreamer 1y ago
    Tariffs are ultimately a federal sales tax on Americans (since it translates into price increases) - which is the worse kind of tax as it's not progressive
ceejayoz 1y ago
> The aggressive cutting meant we ran a budget surplus for June. My household runs a very nice budget surplus if I don't pay the mortgage, student loans, credit card bills, electricity, gas, insurance, etc. too. Huge balance in the account! It's a few months later that the chickens come home to roost.
- ImJamal 1y ago
  The government, as far as I can tell, is paying interest on the debt and as such your example seems flawed. It would be like you decide to stop going to restaurants and now you aren't going into debt.
  - ceejayoz 1y ago
    Sure, but if everyone stops going to restaurants, guess what happens to them? Cutting for the sake of cutting ignores what you are cutting. Cutting healthcare and education gets very expensive in the long run, for example, if you do enough damage. It is premature to declare victory when the knock-on effects are years or decades down the line. (As with not paying your mortgage; it'll be a little while before the pain hits.)

softwaredoug 1y ago

The viable alternative is pretty obvious. Don’t renew the tax cuts and cut entitlements and defense. That’s what you have to do to get a balanced budget. You don’t get a balanced budget trimming random measly costs that might look nice but are infinitesimal parts of the budget. But we tend to cut taxes, not substantive spending. Which is going to saddle my kids with a mess.

msgodel 1y ago
What do you think the tariffs are? We've just about maxed out domestic tax. Already we're probably past the peak of the laffer curve.
- Tadpole9181 1y ago
  The BBB contained over 4.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts and will add around 3 trillion to the US debt. It is one of the largest transfers of wealth to the corporate elite in the history of America, while removing the healthcare of tens of millions and putting half a million jobs at risk. Tariffs will not make up for this because tariffs are, beyond specific circumstances, a failed policy that harms your own economy and disproportionately targets your lower class. It threatens US exports, makes many US businesses non-viable (thus losing jobs), slows down economy by increasing the prices of even domestic goods. Combine that with a looming recession and Trump's insistence to take over the fed fiscal policy and enforce a political bond policy... Crashing your economy does not help reconcile debts.
- ceejayoz 1y ago
  > We've just about maxed out domestic tax. We really haven't. The effective tax rate on the wealthiest Americans has dropped from nearly 60% to about 20% since the 1960s. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/08/first-time-history-us-billionaires-paid-lower-tax-rate-than-working-class-last-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/08/first-tim... > Already we're probably past the peak of the laffer curve. The Laffer curve is a wildly simplistic concept that's widely disputed, and every practical test of it (example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment) has demonstrated that it fails. It's the right's equivalent of "let's try Communism again!"
- insane_dreamer 1y ago
  Tariffs are ultimately a federal sales tax on Americans (since it translates into price increases) - which is the worse kind of tax as it's not progressive

ceejayoz 1y ago

> The aggressive cutting meant we ran a budget surplus for June. My household runs a very nice budget surplus if I don't pay the mortgage, student loans, credit card bills, electricity, gas, insurance, etc. too. Huge balance in the account! It's a few months later that the chickens come home to roost.

ImJamal 1y ago
The government, as far as I can tell, is paying interest on the debt and as such your example seems flawed. It would be like you decide to stop going to restaurants and now you aren't going into debt.
- ceejayoz 1y ago
  Sure, but if everyone stops going to restaurants, guess what happens to them? Cutting for the sake of cutting ignores what you are cutting. Cutting healthcare and education gets very expensive in the long run, for example, if you do enough damage. It is premature to declare victory when the knock-on effects are years or decades down the line. (As with not paying your mortgage; it'll be a little while before the pain hits.)